


Say Your Prayers

by ANebulaDarkly



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, And maybe so did Tim, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Idiots are Awkward, Awkwardness, But Cass is Better, Cass is glorious and we all bow down to her, Cassandra Cain is a Good Bro, College AU, College AU Halloween Edition, Did it for the Lolz, Drinking to deal with a breakup, Drunk Tim Drake, Drunk Tim Drake is a Trip, First In The Fandom, Hallelujah, Halloween, Jason already found one, Jason's love language is feeding people, M/M, Meet-Cute, My First Work in This Fandom, NO CAPES, One Shot, Panic! at the Disco References, Panic! at the Disco is a Beautiful animal, Religious jokes, Song: Hallelujah, Tim Drake's Parents are Not Dead, Tim Drake-centric, Tim was Not Adopted by Bruce, You may need a snack?, seriously if making fun of church stuff offends you do not read this, tim drake is a good bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28908177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ANebulaDarkly/pseuds/ANebulaDarkly
Summary: "All you sinners stand up, sing hallelujah"T is for language and excessive innuendo.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Jason Todd
Comments: 5
Kudos: 57





	Say Your Prayers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kindaquirky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kindaquirky/gifts).



When Tim had gotten the 300 texts from a pre-gaming Stephanie about going to the frat house that night, he ignored them. When Cass had sent a single text saying “come with us”, he knew there was no way to back out. A quick check of the time let him know there was also no time to find a costume, let alone changing into anything else. His red T-shirt that had seen better and jeans would have to do. Sneakers and a faux leather coat later, and he was out of his dorm at sprint to catch up with the girls at the edge of campus. 

Proper attire aside, the night hadn’t been bad so far. Granted, he’d rather be cleaning his cameras or editing his latest batch of photos this Friday night than to be overheated in a living room with couches that had seen better days and a music system guaranteed to bust his ear drums with ‘Thriller’ being the last thing he ever heard. However, no one had vomited on him yet so he counted it a win.

Cass deftly switched out the fresh red cup in Stephanie’s hand for the near empty in her own before Stephanie could throw it back and rejoin the small herd of bodies writhing in the middle of the red-lit room. Without pausing as Stephanie disappeared in the crowd once more, Cass swapped Stephanie’s full cup with Tim’s near empty one. And so it had gone all night, the two of them taking turns ‘holding’ Stephanie’s cup so she could dance to forget the latest breakup and not die from alcohol poisoning. 

Cass had explained during the Monster Mash that she had thought Stephanie had been sick when she hadn’t met up for lunch. After her last meeting, Cass had found Stephanie, newly single sitting on the floor of their dorm room already in her Rapunzel costume, empty bottle in hand. Stephanie, despite all the drinking or because of it, had still been very much looking forward to Halloween and intended to party, partner or no. Cass, admiring her determination to not let her breakup bring her down, had put together a very accurate looking ninja outfit from pieces already in her closet to escort her while she texted Tim for backup. (Tim wanted to ask if her kunai were real, but decided for plausible deniability purposes, he would leave the question unasked.) 

Her story concluded, Tim remained silently beside Cass in agreement that her decision to bring Stephanie out had been the right one. If watching Stephanie work out some of her feelings on the dancefloor as a purple dressed princess was what it took to help her now, then that’s what he would do. Tim took another swig of the jungle juice and prayed she would tire out soon. 

Not that he was much for praying.

While he loved his new friends and college, he hated his major. But a full ride courtesy of his parents would only allow for a business major, and honestly, as much as he loathed it, at least the lessons would be applicable to whatever job he eventually landed if he managed to escape his preordained fate. He knew that his photography was sort of a pipe dream. Going professional? In this economy? Even if his parents were loaded, the Drake family required an heir to the Drake Industries Empire, not an aspiring artist. Not that he wanted the company. But had they bothered to ask? Cass promptly elbowed him in the rib, and Tim was thankful he didn’t spill the cup in his hand.

“You were doing it again.”

“Come on, you know I’m an angsty drunk. That’s why I’m always DD.”

Tim knew full well the only reason Cass was letting him drink as much as he had was the fact that they were literally across the street from campus.

“Stay focused. Tonight is not for us.”

Tim sighed. His willingness to be a martyr for his friends was going to end him one day. He could barely spot Stephanie, blonde hair bouncing back the lights from the rotating disco ball balanced precariously atop the stack of speakers. He took another sip and sighed. A song or two later, Stephanie finally stumbled back toward them.

“I gotta, I gotta break the seal,” she whined.

Cass and Tim shared a look before Cass handed both of their now empty cups to him. Cass patiently guided a wobbly Stephanie to the nearest bathroom while Tim took a moment to decide how to better hold all three cups now in his possession. Lifting the lot, Tim caught one of the empty ones between his teeth and walked to the kitchen to dispose of them all while Stephanie was occupied and unable to protest their lack of drinking to her freedom. 

He blinked at the blinding light of the kitchen after the dimness of the living room. Despite the harsh light, Tim breathed a little easier. The press of bodies mingling always reminded him of the formal functions his parents had dragged him to whenever he was home. He’d grown to hate the mask he automatically wore in large groups, but he was growing to enjoy the two friends he’d made mostly by accident. 

Meeting Stephanie had been impactful in that she’d actually run into him so hard he lost his coffee and hit concrete his first week on campus. Befriending her had happened over pizza as her repayment for the initial injuries. Cass...well, he had a very important reason for being on that rooftop at night. Photography doesn’t care about University rules. What Cass had been doing up there, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but “training” was good enough a reason for him. It wasn’t until after he’d agree to edit papers for Cass (her dyslexia required at least a second set of eyes and he was happy to be useful) that he had found out they were roommates.

“Hallelujah!”

Tim stopped short at the booming voice and turned. A man, who had been pilfering in the fridge, stood up to his full height holding aloft a singular plastic cup of vanilla pudding. 

Tim had seen him (okay, looked him over) a time or two, always at a distance as Tim walked besides Stephanie (who elbowed Tim for said  pining staring) while in the building for the humanities students he rarely had reason to set foot in. But he’d never been this close to him before. He’d never been close enough to see that the light streak in his dark hair wasn’t a silvered gray of aging as Tim had initially thought but a much more intentional looking white, making him much younger than Tim had pegged him for. Tim mentally shifted the man before him from literature professor to TA, much closer to his own age. He had never before been close enough to see that said TA absolutely no right to be so tall or so thick or, Tim glanced down, in that priest outfit.

The cup that had been between his teeth fell, clacked twice against the linoleum, and skittered away to parts unknown. 

Jesus, this was just like the first time he’d seen Ewan McGregor in a cassock in  _ Angels and Demons _ . Tim needed to put the other two cups down before he lost anything else. Breathing might also be recommended. The man, startled by the noise, looked up at the newcomer. Tim swallowed hard as teal eyes settled on his own. Both seemed temporarily at a loss as to how to proceed.

A few smokers walked in the back door and between their odd stare toward the living room, oblivious to their awkward moment. The man kept his eyes on Tim as he slowly shut the fridge as the group of a vampire, a ghost, and a mummy disappeared into the living room. Alone again once more, the man nodded and headed toward a drawer to fish for a clean spoon. 

Tim recovered a little of his ability to think now that those eyes were no longer directly pointed at him and remembered the reason he’d entered the kitchen in the first place. Making his way over to the counter, Tim poured the remaining contents of his cup into the sink, and he stared as blood red liquid spiralled down the drain. His companion sighed and looked over at Tim with a face of complete defeat.

“How? How are there so many knives and not a single god damn spoon?”

Tim remained frozen and couldn’t find a reply.

“Fork it, I guess,” the man continued. 

Tim blinked and found his words again.

“Was that...was that supposed to be a pun?”

The pretend priest lifted up a fork with solumninity as though he were holding up a chalice of wine during rites, and really, really, Tim should just smack it out of his hand right now for such sacrilege. After a complicated maneuver placing both the cup and fork into one hand, the man peeled back and removed the foil lid. 

“Hard crowd, huh?” his companion commented before immediately licking the bottom of the foil clean.

Both cups cracked under Tim’s hands. Tim swallowed and tried to focus on something,  _ anything _ , else. What was he doing? Cups. Right. Recycling? No. The cups were too far gone for that. Best take them directly to the trash where they belonged. Tim made it to the open top trash bin before the man spoke again, his fork scraping along the side of the pudding cup.

“I’ve seen you before but not in any of my classes. What’s your major?”

Tim watched the cups tumble into the bag and wondered if he should join them. Deciding it would be rude to ignore his kitchen companion (and to the planet as he was clearly compostable), Tim turned and began to casually walk back to the sink. He could do it. He knew he could. He walked all the time. The man caught his eye again and tilted his head. Oh. He probably wanted an answer.

“Business,” he finally offered.

The man lifted an eyebrow.

“What have you been doing hanging out in the humanities building?”

“I’ve got friends there,” he replied as he focused on walking back across the kitchen without tripping over his own feet in front of the very nice looking (and not old enough to be a professor) man in a priest outfit.  _ Stop thinking about the outfit. _

“The same ones that dragged you out here without a costume?”

His hackles raised a little in defense of Stephanie and Cass.

“Excuse you, maybe I’m just a sinner in search of someone to confess to,” he threw back as he very calmly leaned back against the counter in a totally normal manner. “You don’t know me.”

The man drew the tines of the fork across his bottom lip as he withdrew it from his mouth.  _ Do not think about the lips either. _

“You’re right. I should probably introduce myself. I’m Jason Todd. I’m one of the literature TAs.”

He would have been mentally smirking at being correct about Jason’s occupation if he weren’t so busy trying to remember his own fucking name. He licked his dry lips and swallowed once.

“I’m…” he took a very long breath, “Tim?”

That sounded like the right name.

“Tim?” Jason echoed, clearly aware that he had said it in the form of a question.

“Uh, yeah, Tim Drake,” he confirmed, trying to remember wherever he had left his dignity tonight. 

Ah, right. Probably at the bottom of one of those cups.

“Tim...is short for Timothy, I take it?” Jason continued, trying his best to scrape up the remnants of the pudding with cutlery not designed for it.

“Yes. Why does that matter?”

Jason slowly took his last bite, leaning into Tim’s bubble a bit to set the fork in the sink, and drew his thumb across his bottom lip to clear the last of the creamy confection lingering there.

“Did you know that Timothy means ‘honoring God’, Tim?”

Tim shook his head only slightly, but the way it made the room less than stable was enough to not want to attempt the action again.

“As your designated Councilor of Christ tonight, when would you say the last time you honored God, Timothy?”

Tim crossed his arms and spoke the first thing that popped into his head.

“You know, I’m not much of a believer. But for you?” Tim paused to look Jason up and down. “I’d get on my knees.”

Jason dropped his empty pudding cup. His face though. Jason looked uncomfortable as he looked off to the side, unable to meet Tim’s gaze. Oh no. Tim felt his own face heating up. Well as much as it could considering it was already flushed from the drinking. Fuck.  _ Who let him say that? _ He’d finally, finally, gotten Jason’s name and his drunk, dumbass self had pushed it too far by not actually filtering his thoughts before they made it out of mouth. He needed to fix his fuckup fast. Tim began to apologize which was exactly when Jason began to speak. With them both taking over the other, all Tim heard was noise until a single voice cut through.

“Tim!” Cass called.

Both their heads turned to look at her. She, in turn, looked at each of them.

“Ah, okay.”

She carefully took three measured steps towards Tim, to drag him away from his shame he hoped. Instead, she pushed him towards Jason. If Tim weren’t drunk, a shove that gentle wouldn’t have done anything. With his current state of inebriation, he went sideway fast. Before he could meet the same fate as his earlier fallen cup, Jason caught him.

Oh. Oh no. His face was buried in Jason’s chest, both those big arms around him (when did he find the time to work out between grading papers?), and would it be okay to look up at his teal blue eyes this close? Oh god, oh god. He really wanted to see what Jason looked like up this close because who knew when he would ever get the chance again. Despite his face feeling on fire, Tim slowly looked up and hoped this one glance would be enough to sear into his memory despite the alcohol.

“Hello,” Jason greeted, giving Tim an expression that looked somewhere between shock and amusement.

“Hi,” Tim whispered back.

“Stephanie finally started crying after she broke the seal,” Cass announced, both of them looking at her while still in their odd embrace. “I’m taking her home. Tim?”

“Yeah, Cass?”

“Jason is safe. Todd?”

Jason stood a little stiffer at Cass’s direct gaze. Huh. She suddenly looked a little dangerous in that ninja outfit. Tim wondered why.

“Yes, Cass?”

Wait, Jason knew Cass? Wait, why was he surprised by this? Cass knew everyone. Of course they would know her too. Cass tilted her head, and Tim heard Jason swallow hard. As if Jason had just passed some test, she suddenly smiled brightly. With a quick glance at Tim, she returned her attention to Jason.

“Tim likes waffles and coffee. He needs to be home by six on Sunday to edit my papers.”

Cass gave Tim a final pat on the shoulder.

“Have fun.”

Cass slipped away into the darkness of the living room as if she’d never been there. 

Tim took a moment to rewind what had just happened. Had...had Cass given them her blessing for…(it took him a moment to do the math)...for an  _ entire _ weekend? Slowly, Tim found the courage to look once more at the man still holding him. Was Jason always this warm or was it just the alcohol?

“So, you like waffles?” Jason asked softly, his breath ghosting across Tim’s nose.

Tim nodded slowly.

“That pudding cup really wasn’t enough to fill me up, and I don’t exactly want to drink on an empty stomach. And you look like you’ve probably had enough. How do you feel about Denny’s?”

“The Den of Dionysus? Are you allowed to even go into the house of another god?” Tim asked, scandalized.

Jason licked his lips and leaned in a little closer.

“We’ll just have to keep it a secret between us.”

Jason’s lips ghosted right over Tim’s ear as he whispered. 

“No telling the big guy, okay?”

Tim shivered. Jason leaned back looking for a reply. Tim considered miming zipping his lips and tossing away a key but that would mean moving his hands, and he felt rather content to stay exactly where he was. Jason smelled nice. Tim must have been on the edge of Sleepy Drunk because he began to sink once more into Jason’s chest. Jason, who, despite their freshly made acquaintance, seemed content to continue to allow Tim to stay there as long as he wished. It would be nice to just rest a moment. He had fallen asleep in weirder places (he still hadn’t lived down the rollercoaster), so this wouldn’t be that unheard of for him. Sleeping in a mostly vertical against a very firm chest wouldn’t be a bad place. In fact, it sounded like a very good place. 

"Think you can stand up on your own, sinner?"

It was only at those words did Tim finally begin to rouse. Tim looked up and stared at Jason, whom he had literally just met and hit on...and wow, Drunk Tim was really a trip without any of his filters, verbal or otherwise. It had taken weeks to feel comfortable just having Stephanie sprawled across his and Cass’s laps as they watched movies together. Was feeling this comfortable next to Jason so quickly all the work of the alcohol or the fact that Cass had vouched for him? 

Drunk Tim was ready to settle in and sleep against Jason, but Starting to Sober Tim caught Jason’s smirk. Nope. Tim would  _ not _ give in that easy. He had some sort of reputation to uphold. Maybe not the Drake family one, but at least the Tim who would not let him give in to that cocky grin one. Tim pushed himself upright once more and smirked back at Jason. Two could play this game. He swayed a moment before tensing all his muscles to keep himself upright.

Okay so maybe two could play this game just as soon as he was hydrated and fed.

“So he can stand up,” Jason joked lightly.

“Oh, I’m up alright,” Tim shot back.

Both paused. Jason looked at Tim a little...worried? And then he was looking off to the side again. Why would he...? Oh. Drunk Tim really really needed to keep his fucking mouth shut. Tim groaned and covered his face in shame. Jason chuckled, put his hands on Tim’s hips, and guided him toward the door from behind.

“I’m just going to keep my mouth shut forever now,” Tim announced from behind his hands when Jason paused their little parade, “even if I don’t know how I’m going to eat waffles.”

With one hand, Jason opened the door before returning his hands to Tim to guide him down the few steps to the ground.

"Maybe if you say your prayers?” Jason offered as he released Tim.

As the chill of the night began to cool his feverish skin, Tim dropped his hands and turned. Up the three concrete steps Jason stood, haloed from behind by the bright light of the kitchen. Tim of this morning would never have imagined that this is where he would be standing before the night was over. Maybe it was a little late to pray for a meeting that had already occurred, but it wouldn’t be too early to pray for how things might go after waffles. And coffee. So much coffee. Maybe enough to drown in. 

Jason firmly shut the door behind him, turned to watch his own steps down the concrete stairs, and stopped dead when his eyes met Tim’s. Jason covered his mouth and looked to the side as he once again made the same face as earlier. As if the cold had been the last push to clear the alcohol induced fog of his mind, the images of Jason’s face through their short conversation hit him once more, and it clicked that the look directed at Tim now was neither embarrassment nor worry, but something much more tempting. Smug at his new knowledge, Tim offered up his trademark smirk as he replied.

"Hallelujah."

**Author's Note:**

> Hallelujah, this is out of my f’in brain!
> 
> Hello there bat-fandom! 
> 
> I’m new(ish) here? Tim/Jay shippers might remember my username in the author’s notes of a not so little fic called [ “Like a Good Neighbor” by Kindaquirky ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20908076/chapters/49702655) that came out over a year ago? Yeah...I might be the one who spammed KQ with pins about the Pick 3/Pick 4 in October 2018 until she wrote it. So, naturally, I was roped into editing that beast and was killing commas right up until KQ posted for every. single. chapter.
> 
> During the posting process in October 2019 it occurred to me while we were tossing pins of maps of Gotham back and forth and images of Jason as a priest kept showing up, that Tim means “honoring god” and like...had this been done before? I didn’t know, so I did the thing. 
> 
> Yes, I wrote this entire one shot so Tim could reply to Jason about what his name meant. Yes, the idea has been in my brain for more than a year. Yes, I stole a lot of these tags from Kindaquirky. Yes, I am so glad to be free of it.
> 
> Shout out to Panic! at the Disco, who, while not the initial inspiration, helped me bring it all together.
> 
> If anyone wants to write a sequel, you have my blessing, but maybe call it “Take Me to Church” just so I can cackle? 
> 
> Happy Whatever Holiday Present This Is, Kindaquirky!
> 
> <333 Nebula


End file.
